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Defense gives Riverton big road win

Feb 13, 2012 - By Craig Blumenshine Staff Writer

The Riverton Wolverine boys basketball team held the Rock Springs Tigers to 22 fewer points than when they played earlier this year and cruised to a 58-38 win on the road Saturday.

With the victory, Riverton (14-5, 3-3 4A West) climbed back to the .500 mark in conference play and now looks forward to two huge conference match ups this coming weekend.

On Friday, Riverton will be on the road trying to avenge an earlier loss to Casper Natrona, a game Riverton led almost the entire way. RHS returns home Saturday afternoon against Casper Kelly Walsh in Wolverine Gym.

"It's a huge weekend. If we can get a couple wins, we will put ourselves in a good position to be second in the conference. The nice thing is, we get Kelly Walsh at home," Wolverine head coach Dick Quayle said.

Saturday's afternoon contest was the only game this week for Riverton, and the big front line of Spenser Yowell, Seth Quayle and Jordan Belville scored 25 total points. More importantly, the bigs shut down the inside game of the Tigers.

"The big kids did a good job defensively. They shut down their inside kids. Rock Springs only scored seven points inside today," Quayle said.

Chase Riley led all scores with 18 points, but Quayle was pleased with the way Tyler Graham and Kole Stewart defended Riley, Wyoming's leading scorer in Class 4-A, holding him under his 20 points-per-game average.

"I thought as a team we played real well defensively. We are getting better defensively. The game was more physical, and our kids adapted well. We came down in a tough place to win, and I was pleased today. We still have three weeks, and we are still not playing our best basketball. Things are looking good," Quayle said.